Telling Mark
by ladygalaxyj
Summary: Written for Shipsgiving over on GateWorld. Set in the beginning of Season 9. No summary per se. The title pretty much says it all. Lack of imagination there. Everything's in the fic. I thought I wouldn't make it before midnight! Rated T just to be safe.


_HAPPY SHIPSGIVING EVERYONE!_

_This fic was written for that lovely celebration and is dedicated to my fellow Sam/Jack shippers over there, as this is after all my first SG1 fic. *stressed* I hope you'll like to read it as much as I liked writing it. :D_

_So, it's set in the beginning of Season 9 and assuming they got together somewhere after Thread/Moebius._

_I appologize in advance for any mistake. English isn't my first language and me being at the last minute means no beta. *rolleyes* That's the consequences of procrastination and RL getting in the way. :)_

_And remember. Reviews are CRAVED. _

_Enjoy!_

_

* * *

_

**TELLING MARK**

The sun was slowly rising behind the quiet neighbourhood; even the old man with his dog weren't taking their usual morning walk. The house itself was calm and silent. Inside, two empty glasses of wine had been forgotten on the kitchen counter. Clothes lay discarded on the master bedroom's floor and the bed sheets were tangled together in a great mess, a result of last night's activities. The only perceptible sound was two slow simultaneous breathing.

The vibration of a lost cell phone broke the heavenly silence, as it awoke the two figures who were sleeping peacefully. A muffled sound came from underneath the covers. There was a shift in position and an annoyed husky voice uttered, "Carter."

"Sorry," she apologized, as she reached for her phone in the pocket of her jeans. Thankfully, it was one of the last things she had taken off last night, so it was close enough to the bed for her to reach it. She brought it to her ear and answered sleepily, "Carter." No response. She sat up and looked at the screen, frowning at the sudden intense light. She closed it rapidly, allowing herself just enough time to look at the caller's ID. The room was again plunged into darkness. She lowered her head to the man's ear, putting her cell phone on the nightstand. "Missed call from the SGC," she told him, tracing circles in his short hair.

He put his arms around her and pinned her down between his body and the mattress. She let out a brief shriek of surprise before giggling like a little girl, as he used her abdomen as a pillow. "Can't they leave you alone on your day off?" he complained, bringing up the little tank top she wore and kissing her stomach.

A soft moan escaped her lips as she tried to distance herself from him, but he tightened his hold on her waist, preventing her from going anywhere. He rapidly made his way up her body, trailing kisses until he reached her neck - and nibbled on _the spot_.

"Jack…" she started to protest, but trailed off as she felt his soft lips against her skin again. He made his way from her shoulder to her ear, sending shivers through her spine. It took her all the resolve she had to push him away, "Jack, this could be important."

As if on cue, his phone rang - his house phone. He couldn't believe it. Couldn't he get one day with Sam for the first time in months? He dropped his head in his pillow, muffling an almost inaudible 'For crying out loud!' The phone rang a second time. Jack ducked his head under his pillow, trying to block out the sound.

"Told you," Sam said, laughing at his childlike reaction. "I'll get it," she added, quickly kissing him between his shoulder blades before getting out of bed.

By the time she entered the kitchen in search of Jack's phone, the answering machine had already picked up for her. "Sam? It's Daniel," her friend's voice filled the room, "I know you're there. Now pick up the phone please. Sam?"

She finally found it, hidden away behind the tissue box, "Yes Daniel, I'm here. What is it?" she answered. He immediately started to explain her the issue of the day, as Jack walked in, wearing only boxers and an old grey USAF t-shirt. She smiled apologetically at him. It seemed like their day was already ruined before it had even started. "Alright, I'll be there." He insisted she make it fast. "As fast as I can, Daniel," she added, irritated. He stopped complaining long enough for her to hang up.

"Emergency?" Jack asked from where he stood, deception showing on his face.

"When is it not?" Sam said half-jokingly. She joined him and took his hand as they walked back to their room. Simple touching had always been something they enjoyed, perhaps because they'd been prevented from doing it for so long. "There's a problem with the gate," she explained, "but I should get back before tonight." She looked at him and they both smiled as he let go of her hand.

Jack settled on the bed to watch her prepare for her day, one of the little things he enjoyed doing when he was around Samantha Carter.

They had plans for tonight. When did they ever make plans? They knew there was a good chance they'd end up crushed anyway. But they had, for tonight. They'd been together for what? Almost five months? And yet, they could count the number of people who knew about their relationship on their hands: Daniel, Teal'c, Landry, Hammond, the Chief of Staff and the President. Had it been only him, he would have already gone up on a rooftop and yelled it to the world, but they had been told to be discreet. So, Jack had settled on enjoying the little things. Which wasn't bad! Mind him. On the contrary, he found himself cherishing every single moment they had together, but he sometimes wished he could be more overt about his love for Sam. But, back to the list of people who knew about them. Sam thought one person was missing and, as much as she wanted to tell him, she dreaded it. They had decided together that Thanksgiving was the perfect occasion for a family dinner with Mark, her brother.

Sam had called him two weeks ago, telling him they needed to catch up. After a lengthy discussion, she had invited him to her house, hers and Jack's, for Thanksgiving. Only, he didn't know about Jack, not yet anyway. He'd been terribly disappointed when she had broken up her engagement to Pete. She knew he thought she was way to much engrossed in her work and was lacking social life. Tonight, she intended to prove him wrong, but she dreaded his reaction, which was ridiculous. She was a grown up woman. She loved Jack; Jack loved her. She shouldn't mind what her brother thought, but she did.

Too soon for her liking, Sam was on her doorstep with Jack, dressed in her BDUs, he still in his old USAF t-shirt. They kissed longingly. Her arms went up around his neck and Jack's hands encircled her waist. They both felt like dropping everything and running to the bedroom, but the vibration of the cell phone in her pocket ruined the moment and they both sighing heavily. Jack brought his forehead closer to hers, creating an intimacy bubble around them. "I'm sorry I have to go," she whispered.

"Don't be. It's our job. It's what we do. I wouldn't want you any other way," he said, pecking her lips one last time.

"I'll be back before my brother gets here," she told him, but they both knew things could go wrong. In fact, they always did whenever SG-1 was concerned.

But Jack smiled back. "I'll take care of everything. Mark will have no choice but to like me," he assured her, making her flash him one of the smiles he adored so much.

They gazed at each other as he opened the door. She had picked up her cell phone. Whoever was on the other end was persistent. "Yes Daniel! I'm coming!" she told the impatient archaeologist. She made her way to her car, but quickly turned back to Jack who stood in the doorway and mouthed, 'I loved you,' before going back to arguing with Daniel over her lateness.

He couldn't make out what she was saying their friend on the phone, but when she looked at him one last time from her car, he mouthed back, 'I loved you too.'

Sam got in her car with a smile on her face, as Daniel finally hung up to let her drive safely. There were better days and there were worse, but finally being with Jack O'Neill, somehow, made them all worth it.

-OOOOO-

Patience wasn't one of General Jack O'Neill's best personality traits - at least, not where Lieutenant Colonel Samantha Carter was concerned.

One could say he had waited long enough - eight years to be exact - and that was it exactly. _That_ _was_ his problem. He considered having waited long enough for her; he didn't want to wait anymore.

He looked as his watch. 6:20. Mark was due to arrive at 6:30 and she was running late. She should have been home by now. Should he call Mark? He was likely to have left his house already. And it's not like he knew what he would tell him anyway. How would he explain his presence? He had met Mark's family only once, at Jacob's funeral. He had hardly spoken to the man, let alone his wife and children. 'Sam, where _are_ you?' he thought, looking at this watch again. 6:22. He paced in the kitchen, looking at the meat in the stove. Everything was ready if her brother were to arrive - everything except himself that is. Oh physically, he was fine, but mentally was a whole other thing.

He kept glancing at the door, wishing it to open and see Sam enter with a smile on her face. Only, he knew that was very unlikely. She was at the SGC and, whatever they had needed her help with, it had taken longer then they had anticipated. 'As usual,' he thought. Emergencies weren't rare, but tonight, he desperately wanted her to come back home. And the sooner, the better.

Jack walked around the house, making sure for the fourth time that everything was in order - he couldn't find anything better to do while he waited. 6:32. Maybe he'd be lucky and Mark would be late enough to allow time for Sam's return. _That_ would suit him just fine.

And that's when he heard the door bell.

'Darn!' he thought. There was no delaying this any longer. He had no choice but to answer and come up with an excuse for Sam's absence. 'Great, just great.' He walked to the door and inhaled deeply before opening it. Mark stood on the threshold with his daughter, his wife and son coming from behind.

"General O'Neill? What are you doing here?" he asked, surprised, but quickly started to worry. "Did something happen to Sam?"

"No! No!" he answered immediately, mentally kicking himself for letting her brother doubt for one second. 'Great job, O'Neill,' he told himself. "She was called back at work to deal with an emergency. She'll be around shortly. Dinner's in the stove and she told us not to wait for her if we were hungry." Jack shifted to the left to let Mark's family enter. He crouched to the eye level of the children, clenching his teeth at the pain in his knees. "Would you happen to like the Simpsons?" Of course, he had asked Sam before asking her niece and nephew, so he already knew the answer.

The children's, especially the boy's, eyes lit up. Jack could see their mother smile in the corner of his eye. He was proud of himself. The kids looked at their parents, seeking permission. "Go ahead kids. Living room is on the left. TV's already open," Jack said.

The minute their mother nodded her approval, they both ran inside while O'Neill offered to take the bag Mark's wife was transporting. He shot a look at her, intrigued at his sister's CO. The adults made their way to the kitchen where four glasses of wine and two of orange juice waited on the counter. Mark couldn't help but notice how at home in Sam's house Jack O'Neill seemed to be. An idea crept into his mind. Did he have something to do with her breaking her engagement to Pete? He studied him closely while he was making his own wife laugh at some Simpsons joke. The man seemed kind enough. Since his sister wasn't here, he had to assume he'd done dinner by himself. Judging from the sent that floated around, he had done a great job. The house was neat; he had taken the time to clean. All right, he knew Sam wasn't one to let things lay around, but still… If the man was ready to do cooking and cleaning, he had to assume he was more than a CO taking care of his subordinate's family while she was away - even _that_ would be weird, he thought, but, for the past eight years, he was ready for about anything where Sam was concerned.

His flow of thoughts was interrupted by his wife asking for an anecdote of Sam and him when they were kids. She wanted him to tell Jack. He didn't know how he felt about telling his sister's CO about it, especially now that he wasn't even sure if he was only her CO, but the look on his lover's face made him agree. They joined the kids in the living room, and proceeded to share stories of past times.

-OOOOO-

Once Mark had stopped worrying about his sister's professional and personal life, he found himself enjoying O'Neill's company. Despite his assertion before supper that he wasn't really good with kids, he had made his laugh until they fell asleep on the couch. He seemed like a good man, whatever his intentions towards Sam were.

Yes, the children had fallen asleep, which reminded him it was starting to get late. Sam still wasn't home. He glanced at Jack. Mark knew the man was worried and was trying not to let it show. It seemed he was doing an incredible job with his wife, but he wasn't fooling him one bit. They had decided to play cards and wait for Sam before eating dessert.

Fortunately for them, they didn't have to wait long.

The second he heard the front door opened, Jack dropped his cards on the table and ran out of the room.

Sam sighed heavily as she closed the door behind her, stopping to look at her reflection in the glass. It had taken her all day to fix the malfunction with the gate. They'd told her they would have called Lee, but he was off-world with SG-11 on a recon mission and they couldn't risk using the gate until they knew what was wrong. She was tired. And hungry - had only a sandwich for lunch, which she hadn't finished because sparks from the consoles had asked for her attention. When she had looked at the time, she had been disheartened and hadn't even bothered to change from her BDUs. She had removed the SGC's patches in her car before entering her house, but that was it.

She turned around when she heard footsteps. Jack's. She'd recognised them anywhere. Sam flashed him a brilliant smile, rapidly forgetting her bad day. "And I wanted to shout 'Honey, I'm home,'" she said, falsely disappointed.

"Want me to go back in the kitchen?" he offered, grinning back at her.

She let out a little laugh. "It's all right." He took her hand and they made their way to the kitchen slowly, like teenagers afraid of telling their parents about their newfound love. "How's Mark?"

"Good," he answered truthfully, "considering his family just spent Thanksgiving with an almost complete stranger." He felt, rather than saw, her head drop and stopped, pulling her back to him. He lifted her chin with his fingers and made her look straight into his eyes. "Hey, it's all right. He understands. The children had fun watching the Simpson and running around the house. Your sister-in-law is the gentlest person this Earth had ever known and I believe your brother likes me. So, everything's fine. You just relax."

"Yes, sir," she whispered softly, before pecking his lips. She smiled and let go of his hand as she entered the kitchen. "Marco!" she called after her brother.

The Carter family exchanged hugs and kisses. Jack stayed behind, taking the time to observe the woman who made his heart melt each time she looked at him. She seemed tired and he would bet anything that she hadn't had a decent meal since she left earlier this morning. He would talk to Landry – try and get her the day off tomorrow. He closed on the three other people in the room and, somehow, Sam must have sensed his approach because she moved to the side and stretched her arm to take his hand.

"Mark," she started, looking back at her brother, "I want you to officially meet Jack O'Neill as my…" She trailed off and glanced at her former CO. "Well, it's certainly _not_ boyfriend at our age."

"It's all right Sam. I think he's proven his worth tonight." Mark smiled at Jack. "Welcome in the Carter family General."

"It's Jack," he said, sensing Sam muscles' release by his side, but he knew it wouldn't be completely over until she had talked to him alone. "I'll go check on the kids."

"I'll come with you. We should wake them up," Mark's wife added as she followed him into the living room. She must have sensed the same thing as Jack, which made the General smile.

The two Carters were left alone in the kitchen. Sam took from the back of the counter what she knew to be the glass of wine Jack had prepared for her earlier that evening. She should have been home then, and not now. She turned back to face her brother, waiting for him to say something. Should she talk first? No. She didn't owe him any explanation. He'd just have to face the fact that Jack and her were a couple. They almost were when they had met the first time, it shouldn't be a surprised. She grinned mentally. She and Jack. A couple. Sometimes, she couldn't believe it herself.

"Isn't this against regulations?"

Sam's heart stopped for a second. That was it? Of all the ways she had expected her brother to react, USAF regulations weren't on the list. Then, she remembered. Her brother didn't know what had happened at the SGC in the last few months. She guessed she owed him some explanations. She composed herself from her initial shock and explained, "Jack's not my commanding officer anymore, Mark. Well, not directly. Some changes happened at work. Almost all my team got transferred a few months back. We weren't in the same chain of command for a while. We spent a week together - the four of us - at his cabin in Minnesota. While nothing happened while we were there, we knew something was bound to happen soon after. We've loved each other for so long."

Mark arched an eyebrow and interrupted her, "And Pete?" She'd been engaged to the guy. Hadn't she loved him?

"He was…" she sighed, "He was me trying to distance myself from my feelings for Jack, but, in the end, I couldn't. No matter how hard I try. I love him, and I just couldn't help it." She put her glass down and took her brother's hand. "I'm happy Mark. Truly happy," she said with such sincerity it overwhelmed her.

He gazed into her eyes, but she held his scrutinizing look with unwavering calmness. He then pulled her into a hug which surprised both of them. Her brother had never been one for brotherly displays of affection. Nevertheless, she returned his hug and held on to him tightly. "Promise me something Sam," he whispered in her ear.

"What?"

"That he's the good one. I don't want to see you hurt again." He said, thinking back to the last military man she had dated, and almost married.

"I won't; he won't. I promise," she said as tears filled her eyes. She sniffled, not wanting them to fall and she smiled slightly when she heard her brother do the same. He slowly let go of his hold on her and she mimicked him, holding his gaze when they separated. He squeezed her hand, giving her his approval, even he if knew she didn't need it. He then indicated her to lead the way to the living room to join the others.

As soon as she entered, Sam heard her now awakened niece and nephew call her name. She went to sit with them on the couch as they proceeded to tell her everything Jack had done for them. Her niece kept calling him 'her friend'. She smiled. Innocence.

She looked up at Jack who sat on the other couch with her brother and his wife.

In that moment, surrounded by her family, she knew. There was never a doubt, but it felt good to know.

He was truly the good one.

**THE END**


End file.
